In a universe far, far away
by general zargon
Summary: Set post-Born of Betrayal. Ichigo wakes up on a spaceship and is understandably confused. He also rescues a prisoner and breaks the laws of physics. Pretty much a regular day for him and a lucky one for Jullien. Rated T for language.


_Author's Note: Okay, so I'm going to be honest with you guys, I have done literally everything I could think of to get rid of this bunny - not thinking about it, casting it into tumblr space, you name it, I probably tried it. But it wouldn't leave, and so I'm left with no other choice than to try it. Please don't expect a lot of coherency or backstory. Who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised._

 _ **Please note that this is an experimental chapter, just to see if this crossover would work. If enough people like it, I might continue it, but if not, it will be a stand-alone.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own The League series or Bleach, they are both the properties of their respective copyright holders.**_

* * *

Ichigo Kurosaki had been in some weird situations before during his twenty-three years of life, from Soul Reapers to Arrancar to life-and-death battles to that unfortunate incident with Keigo and the pufferfish.

But this latest in a long line of weird happenings? This one took the freaking cake and the ice cream too.

He was currently locked inside a dark metal room, his hands tied behind his back with some kind of weird cable, with no idea how he got there and a monster headache. At least whoever had tied him up hadn't thought to restrain his legs, for whatever good that would do him, because he could barely see three feet in front of his face.

As for how he had gotten into this predicament? He had no clue, and he didn't really care at the moment. The cables were chafing, so getting free was his main priority.

The orange-haired man quickly took stock of his surroundings, his eyes already used to the darkness, and came to the unhappy conclusion that there was nothing sharp around. He didn't even have a pocket knife on hand, which was a grievous oversight that he'd have to fix if he survived (or even if he didn't). Well then, since he didn't have anything sharp around like a loose bit of metal, a nail, or a knife, that only left... _claws_.

Mentally poking at his Hollow, he got the equivalent of a grumble-and-swipe before the familiar reiatsu began running through his arms, going down to his hands and pooling there. This was a useful trick he'd picked up after Mizuiro's bachelor party, oddly enough, and he grinned as his fingers shifted into his Hollow's claws. After that it only took a few seconds to saw through the cable, mostly because of the weird angle his hands were at.

Pushing himself to his feet, he dusted himself off out of habit before going over to the door.

Said door had what looked like one of those high-tech palm readers in place of a lock, and Ichigo just looked at it for a moment before thinking _well screw that_ , shrugging and walking _through_ the door.

Hey, if Renji could do it then so could he!

* * *

The hallway he emerged in was made of cold, silvery-colored metal , the lights embedded in the ceiling dim and Ichigo was _sure_ that if he'd been in a horror movie that they would have been flickering. Thankfully they weren't, and so picking a direction at random he set off to explore.

Five hallways and three rooms later, he came to the conclusion that whoever this place belonged to was not a nice person, because the rooms he poked his head in looked uncomfortably like prison cells. He tried not to judge, because hey, they could be cells to hold criminals so he should reserve judgment.

That's what he told himself, anyway. If he happened to make an effort to sneak around, that was because he'd developed a healthy sense of paranoia over the years and in no way because he was starting to suspect he was in some kind of terrorist base. Really.

He did think it was odd that he hadn't run into anybody yet, but since that might be a good thing he just kept exploring and ignoring the keypads and palm-readers next to the doors as he poked his head into rooms. By the tenth one (some kind of office) he felt like he'd been dropped onto the set of a sci-fi show - everything was all futuristic, sleek and metal! He felt distinctly out of place and the uncomfortable feeling that he should be wearing spandex ( _Hell no_!).

Finally though, he stumbled into an office with a computer. Sure it was all future-y, but he figured it was similar enough that he could make it work.

Sadly, he was proven very wrong barely ten minutes later when he had to restrain the urge to curse and tear at his own hair. Futuristic technology 1, Ichigo 0.

The orange-haired man wasn't about to give up, and after taking a deep breath and cautiously poking at a few of the keys, he managed to get something to happen, namely causing something that looked like a news' broadcast to appear. And Ichigo could only stare, because was that woman _green_? A minute later and he came to the conclusion that yes, yes she was.

The news anchor's coloring aside, it took a moment for him to understand what she was saying - it was like there was a buzzing in his ears, but then her voice came through clear as a bell and perfectly understandable. The sentence structure was weird and there was a smattering of terms that he didn't understand, but from what Ichigo could figure out, there was a war going on, someone high up on one of sides had been captured by the enemy, and that person's allies were offering a reward to anyone who had information that lead to s/he's recovery.

Huh. Sounded like the plot of a sci-fi TV drama, although considering where he was he really didn't have room to throw stones.

A picture appeared on screen just as he heard footsteps approaching the door, and he hurriedly poked several buttons until the broadcast screen disappeared.

For lack of a better option, he escaped through the wall behind the desk...and straight into an occupied prison cell.

Ichigo face-palmed, because wasn't that just his luck?

* * *

Ichigo shifted uneasily as he waited for the cell's occupant to react to the fact that he'd walked through the wall...and waited...and waited.

Four minutes later and with still no reaction, he frowned and took a step closer to the form sitting slumped against the wall.

The first thing he really noticed were the wounds, slashes and cuts along the person's - a man, he noted absently - arms and torso, with a whole collage of bruises and burns on his legs. None of the injuries were life-threatening, and it looked more like they were designed to cause pain instead of death. Infection was a very real concern though, considering the depths of some of the slashes on the guy's shoulders and back, which he saw when he gently leaned the man forward.

The reason he could see how bad they were? The guy was completely naked.

Ichigo was a doctor's son. He barely even noticed as he assessed the injuries, trying to find if there was anything he could do for the poor guy.

He'd just returned the man to his former position, being careful of his back, and stood up to begin pacing when the guy groaned, stirring.

Greenish brown eyes tinged with blood red blinked open beneath a curtain of black hair, the man tensing and recoiling when he saw Ichigo kneeling in front of him, only to hiss when the sudden movement pulled at his injuries.

"Hey! Easy there, buddy, those wounds are pretty bad, you can't go jerking around like that!" Ichigo said firmly, gaining a confused look from the man along with a bewildered frown. The orange-haired man didn't notice, more focused on trying to figure out why the guy's face looked familiar to him than his reaction to Ichigo's words.

Seriously, it was right on the tip of his tongue! He was sure he recognized the guy, though where would he have seen him?...

Ichigo shook his head, shelving that question for now and instead leaning forward to get a better look at a deep cut on the guy's pectoral, causing the man to immediately tense up. Whatever Ichigo expected when the guy used the wall as leverage to sit up straighter, him talking was pretty low on the list, though the raspy voice was kind of expected. "I don't know who you are, but please...My brother...there's a reward if you help me." If there was a moment of hesitation before he mentioned a reward, it was too small for Ichigo to notice, because then the twenty-three year-old had a moment of realization when he said 'reward'.

The news broadcast! That's where he'd seen the guy's face! There'd been a picture of him shown before he'd heard the footsteps outside the door!

Before Ichigo could answer, the guy's eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness, his head meeting the wall with a slight 'thunk', and ouch, that probably wouldn't do him any favors in the long run. He cringed in sympathy before frowning, wondering how the hell he was supposed to get the guy back to where he was supposed to be.

He snapped his fingers as he had an idea, concentrating his spiritual energy until...There! The guy's spirit ribbons!

Choosing the one that looked strongest, Ichigo reached out and grabbed it, following the strand to where the other end was...what the hell, he was on a spaceship?! Eyes open wide as he gaped, he barely registered the other knowledge contained within the ribbon, a story of betrayal, strife, jealousy and cruelty. Fuck, this guy's family had _major_ problems.

Grimacing as he let go of the ribbon and letting the vision of them fade, Ichigo took a deep breath and stood, hauling Jullien/Dagger (he was a bit confused on which one the guy went by, since he'd gotten some conflicting signals) up with him. Throwing the guy over his shoulder as gently as he could, he decided it was time to see if another of his Hollow abilities was still working and get off this freaking spaceship.

It turned out that when he had a specific destination in mind, helpfully provided by the spirit ribbon he'd grabbed, a Garganta could work in space. Which was both useful and cool.

It was probably a good thing that his passenger was unconscious.

* * *

Thankfully they didn't wind up inside a wall, but their exit from the Garganta certainly wasn't Ichigo's most graceful landing ever (it actually reminded him a lot of his first return from Soul Society).

He stumbled, catching his balance and just barely stopping the unconscious Jullien - that's the name he was going with until corrected - from sliding off his shoulders. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Ichigo was relieved to see that though his portal might have been a little off, there was no one around and the end of the spirit ribbon that he'd been aiming for was a lot closer.

It was about a half a mile away, give or take, and he smirked, mentally giving Renji the middle finger because his aim was not terrible you stupid pineapple-head! He was feeling rightfully smug as he looked around the alley he'd landed in, which looked a lot like the stereotypical alleys back on Earth, and decided that it would probably be a good idea to find Jullien some clothes so he didn't get arrested for carting around a naked guy.

Stashing his passenger behind some crates, he darted off to find the nearest clothing store and see if his shunpo* still worked.

Turned out it did.

Awesome.

* * *

Ichigo proudly presented his acquisitions, a plain white t-shirt and what looked like jeans (in this futuristic world you never know...), to Jullien when the guy woke up the second time. Although he realized that white might not have been the best color to get when standing up (the guy was three inches taller than him, so he wasn't too off on the sizes) and moving to put the clothes on reopened some of the cuts and caused them to start bleeding.

The orange-haired man shrugged and went to go steal that planet's equivalent of a first-aid kit, because he had no money on him and Jullien really needed to get those injuries treated.

...Shut up, don't judge him.

* * *

The substitute Soul Reaper found out that he and Jullien were speaking different languages after he brought back the first-aid kit and tried to tell the guy what he'd noticed about his various injuries.

It was the bewildered look that really clued him in, though the guy actually speaking slowly and carefully like to a child that he could take care of the cuts on his arms and legs on his own was a pretty big hint.

He punched him for that, because there was nothing wrong with him mentally and that was an insult no matter who you were!

Oh great, now he was unconscious again.

* * *

While Jullien slept off the punch that had added a shiny new bruise to his face, Ichigo sat cross-legged against the opposite alley wall and eventually figured out why he could understand Jullien but Jullien couldn't understand him.

The dead didn't have language barriers.

In order to test his theory, he went out to the busiest street he could find and asked someone at random what the time was. The woman he'd picked just looked confused and wary as she said that she didn't speak that language and then hurried off. Just to be sure he repeated the random asking five more times, each on different streets and each with the same result, so that pretty much proved it.

Returning to the alley, he irritably kicked the wall - cracking the stone and jamming his big toe at the same time - and cursed lowly.

He was seriously pissed off now, and not just because his foot popped a bit as it healed.

Seriously, what was the deal with him being able to understand what everyone was saying if he couldn't speak the damn language? At this rate he'd have to just communicate through charades! Considering he sucked at them (as the fact that he lost a game against Keigo could attest to), that really wasn't a viable option for breaking the language barrier.

The guy he was trying to figure out a way to communicate with was no help, as he was currently unconscious.

He sighed.

So much for plan A.

* * *

While he waited for Jullien to wake up, Ichigo decided to see just how many of his powers he could use in future-land.

He already knew the walking through walls thing worked, same with the spirit ribbons, the Garganta, and shunpo. Moving to the outskirts of the city without being seen was a challenge, but on his way he discovered that he could still fly and stand in mid-air, which was _awesome_. He had to take a minute to grin at that.

His speed was largely intact, as he was able to outrun the planet's version of a motorcycle (covertly of course, as thankfully the place still had trees), and so was his Hierro, as he found out when he was distracted by something off to the side and ricocheted off a wall, taking out a chunk of masonry in the process. There wasn't a whole lot he could test even outside the main city without drawing attention to himself, so after assuring himself that his base abilities still worked, he ran - literally - back to where he'd left Jullien.

...The guy was still unconscious. He didn't think he'd even hit him that hard!

Ichigo was getting a bit concerned, and he finally sighed, muttered "Screw it," and decided to just take him to his brother, who hopefully wouldn't kill the messenger when he saw the state that Jullien was in.

Judging from what he'd picked up through the spirit ribbons, that was a very real concern.

Jullien's brother, Nykyrian, was staying in some sort of base that was covered in some weird energy (it tingled), and Ichigo now faced the challenge of getting in.

He decided on the direct approach; namely walking up to the guards and asking, "Hey, this guy one of yours?", pointing with a thumb at the guy he'd once again slung over one of his shoulders like a sack of rice.

The guards were understandably confused, and then the alarm sounded when they recognized Jullien.

Apparently people in the future had laser guns. And it turned out that his Hierro could block laser fire, which was really helpful at the moment.

His clothes couldn't though, which really ticked him off since he'd liked those jeans.

The trigger-happy guards were promptly punched in the face and knocked out, _while_ he was still carrying Jullien.

Teach them to mess with his clothes.

* * *

By the time anyone came to see what the racket was about, Ichigo was sitting on the backs of the unconscious guards playing tic-tac-toe with a paper and pen he'd liberated from one of their pockets. He'd dropped Jullien on the ground next to them, more than a little annoyed about how long it was taking the guy to wake up.

He was also a bit worried that he might have given the guy brain-damage, but he'd checked his eyes earlier and the pupil response was good, so chances of that were low.

The man who showed up to see why the alarm had been triggered just as Ichigo got three in a row was all of 6"5, dressed head to toe in black, carrying a broadsword, and looking very pissed off. He was followed by a blond man in sunglasses who was carrying a blaster and looking just as pissed.

Ichigo could sympathize.

"That yours?" He spoke in the blandest tone he could and pointed to Jullien, keeping a deadpan expression on his face as the blond man quickly pulled on the futuristic version of a cell phone and started talking into it rapid-fire. Every other word was a curse, so he pretty much tuned that guy out.

The first guy cursed as well, practically teleporting over to Jullien and dropping to his knees to check on him. The energy Ichigo could sense from the guy rose slightly, and an orange glow not unlike Orihime's Soten Kesshun surrounded Jullien. So the guy could heal people, big whoop.

More people showed up right then and everyone seemed to remember that he was there (and sitting on two guards) at the exact same moment.

Wow, that was a lot of blasters.

* * *

His room/cell was actually pretty comfortable, which wasn't that surprising since it was really a guestroom, but they didn't want him to know that, so hey, if they hadn't figured out he could understand them he wasn't going to go out of his way to let them know.

It was funny listening to people talk over his head, since he was catching every word and knew exactly what they were planning to do, which was wait until Jullien woke up and then find out if they should kill him (they could try) or give him the reward.

Personally, he was hoping for the reward, since he had precisely zero money and according to that Syn guy, who was apparently a hacker or 'filtch', he didn't exist in the Ichidian Universe, which was where he was. Syn had also cursed at him and demanded to know who had done such a good job erasing him, which was when the language barrier came in handy.

He'd made a game out of randomly insulting the guards in a cheerful tone of voice and confusing them about whether they'd really been insulted or not.

To confirm, yes they had been, and Yuzu would probably wash his mouth out with soap if she heard him say half the things he did.

Ichigo wondered if the charades thing was an option after all...

* * *

 _*Flash Step. Anyone who has seen Bleach should know this one._

 _Author's Note: And that's pretty much it. I don't know if it'll be continued, but I just needed to get the bunny out of my head. It's a little weird, true, but that's what my mental Ichigo-voice was telling me, and I listen to my muses...sometimes. I hope you enjoyed it, and as always constructive criticism is welcome._


End file.
